Reg Alcock

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Hon. Reg Alcock, PC, MP, BA, MPA

Reginald B. Alcock, PC, BA, MPA (born April 16, 1948) is a Canadian politician. He represented the riding of Winnipeg South in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2006, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. Alcock is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Contents

1 Early life and career
2 Government backbencher
3 Cabinet minister

3.1 Policy
3.2 Other

4 2006 election
5 Trivia
6 Table of offices held
7 External links
8 Electoral record
9 Footnotes

Early life and career

Alcock was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University. He was the director of Manitoba Child and Family Services from 1983 to 1985, and in this capacity spearheaded an effort to rewrite the province's child protection legislation. As a result of his efforts, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to introduce official protocols to deal with instances of child sex abuse.Reg Alcock, official biographical sketch, 2006 campaign material. Alcock has also been active with the Harvard Policy Group, which studies the effects of Information Technology on the public sector. He began his political career at the provincial level, working as an organizer for the Manitoba Liberal Party in the early 1980s.Paul Samyn, "Doer, Alcock crusaders again", Winnipeg Free Press, 11 April 2005, A7.

Alcock was elected for the Winnipeg constituency of Osborne in the 1988 provincial election, in which the Manitoba Liberal Party rose from one seat to twenty under the leadership of Sharon Carstairs. He subsequently worked as campaign manager for high-profile Liberal incumbent Lloyd Axworthy in the 1988 federal election.Derek Ferguson, "Liberal gains no fluke", Toronto Star, 23 November 1988, A21. Alcock served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as Official Opposition house leader and finance critic, and was re-elected in the 1990 provincial election despite a vote shift against his party. He endorsed Jean Chrétien's bid to lead the federal Liberal Party in 1990,Paul Samyn, "Alcock wants PM to retire early", Winnipeg Free Press, 18 December 2002. and declared his intention to enter federal politics in 1992.John Dafoe, "Post-referendum populism turns into lassitude in the West", Globe and Mail, 21 November 1992, D2.

Alcock won the Liberal nomination for Winnipeg South in early 1993, defeating rival candidate Linda Asper by only five votes on the third ballot.Jim Carr, "Ready for a fight", Winnipeg Free Press, 25 March 1993, Editorial. Asper later attempted to challenge the results. He won a convincing victory over incumbent Progressive Conservative MP Dorothy Dobbie in the 1993 federal election, and entered parliament as a backbench supporter of the Chrétien government.

Government backbencher

Alcock soon developed a reputation as one of the most technologically savvy members of parliament. In 1994, he became the first MP to electronically coordinate his office from his riding instead of relying on permanent staff in Ottawa.John Douglas, "MP is wired for politics", Winnipeg Free Press, 2 May 1994, City Page. Reform Party MP Stephen Harper observed that many in his party were trying to adapt similar systems. The following year, he became the first Canadian MP to launch an official website."Manitoba lawmaker enters cyberspace", Associated Press Political Service, 19 April 1995. He was appointed to the standing committee on foreign affairs and international trade in 1995,"Alcock named to powerful panel Staff", Winnipeg Free Press, 9 February 1995, Canadian Wire Stories. and was named chair of the standing committee on transport in 1997.Dan Lett, "Two Winnipeg Liberal MPs move up power structure", Winnipeg Free Press, 5 March 1996, A5.

The Chrétien government called a new federal election in the summer of 1997, only three-and-a-half years into a five-year mandate. The election timing was controversial in Manitoba, as it coincided with significant flooding from the Red River into Winnipeg. Alcock, along with other Manitoba Liberal MPs, requested a delay until the flooding was under control.Dan Lett, "MPs want vote delayed", Winnipeg Free Press, 15 April 1997. When Chrétien called the election anyway, Alcock transformed his campaign office into a volunteer relief centre.Bud Robertson, "Politicians unite against flood", Winnipeg Free Press, 29 April 1997, A7. He was personally involved in sandbagging and evacuation efforts, and did not actively campaign for the first period of the election. He was nonetheless returned by a significant margin.Tim Harper, "McDonough says election call 'insensitive'", Toronto Star, 29 April 1997, A11. From 1998 to 2000, he served as parliamentary secretary to the President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. In 1998, Alcock brought forward a private member's bill to overturn Louis Riel's conviction for high treason and recognize him as a Father of Confederation.Paul Samyn, "MPs eye clean slate for Riel", Winnipeg Free Press, 17 March 1998, A1.

There were frequent rumours that Alcock would be appointed to the Chrétien cabinet, but he was passed over on more than one occasion. His professional relationship with Chrétien deteriorated after 2000, and in 2002 he became the primary Manitoba organizer for Paul Martin's bid to replace Chrétien as party leader."Winnipeg voters love Martin", Winnipeg Free Press, 18 June 2002, A1. Later in the same year, he became one of the first Liberal MPs to openly call for Chrétien's resignation.Anne Dawson, "16 Liberal MPs willing to declare PM should resign", National Post, 25 July 2002, A01. Alcock increased his public profile in 2003, after chairing a committee which forced privacy commissioner George Radwanski to resign from office after revelations of extremely lax spending habits in Radwanski's office."Radwanski quits under pressure", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 24 June 2003, A1.

Cabinet minister

When Paul Martin became Prime Minister of Canada on December 12, 2003, Alcock was appointed to cabinet as President of the Treasury Board, Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, and political minister responsible for Manitoba. He was also named to the government's priorities and planning committee (described as the "inner circle" of cabinet)"New PM names 15 to inner circle", National Post, 13 December 2003, A4. and was appointed chair of a cabinet committee which conducted a comprehensive review of government spending.Darren Yourk, "Ottawa freezes capital spending", globeandmail.com, 16 December 2003, Breaking News.

Policy

As president of the Treasury Board, Alcock was responsible for overseeing the Canadian civil service and spending details within government agencies. He also played a prominent role in coordinating the Martin government's response to the federal sponsorship scandal, in which some public monies were misappropriated by bureaucrats and advertising agents in Quebec with ties to the Liberal Party."Tory hopes to slay Grit giant", Winnipeg Free Press, 12 June 2004, A13. Alcock announced a new appointment process for crown corporation executives in 2004,"President of the Treasury Board Announces New Appointment Process", Canada NewsWire, 15 March 2004, 13:45 report. and the following year issued a new policy of management control for government agencies. He argued that these reforms would prevent similar scandals from occurring in the future.Campbell Clark, "Liberals to unveil new bureaucratic controls", Globe and Mail, 26 October 2005, A4. One of his more notable initiatives was the establishment of a Chief Audit Executive for each government department and agency.Peter Larson, "Gomery: The cure may be worse than the disease", Toronto Star, 14 November 2005, A17.

Alcock brought forward a total of 158 separate reforms for the public service in late 2005, and promised that another eighty would follow. Critics considered this to be excessive."Harper hints at easing up on rules", Hamilton Spectator, 24 March 2006, A17.

In March 2005, Alcock released a comprehensive proposal for reforming Canada's regulatory system. He argued that his reforms would reduce delays for patent drug approval, and avoid the duplication of existing foreign research without compromising safety standards.Paul Vieira, "Alcock aims to put new rules into regulation", National Post, 26 March 2005, FP3. Critics of the plan suggested that it could jeopardize Canadian sovereignty, and lead to the adoption of American regulatory standards."Loss of sovereignty feared over 'smart regulation'", Winnipeg Free Press, 28 March 2005, A10.

In February 2004, a national newspaper identified Alcock as a leading cabinet supporter of private-public partnerships.Bill Curry, "Liberals building a case for privatizing", National Post, 9 February 2004, A1.

Other

In early 2005, Alcock publicly criticized his government's position against the legalization of marijuana. He argued that legalization and government oversight would be an improvement over the current system, and said "If we actually wanted to break the back of organized crime, we would be better off to control it. When you have these things underground, what you end up fuelling is organized crime.""Alcock at odds with party over pot", Winnipeg Free Press, 5 March 2005, B4.

He became involved in a minor controversy in May 2005, after Manitoba Conservative MP Inky Mark alleged that the Liberal government had tried to bribe him a patronage appointment. Alcock categorically denied that any such offer was made, and joked that his party would likely go "a little higher up in the gene pool" if it had such intentions. Mark initially dismissed the insult, but later held a press conference to denounce it as racist, interpreting the "gene pool" comment as referring to the fact that he is Chinese-Canadian. Alcock responded by saying, "I did make the comment and he has chosen to interpret it as a racial or an ethnic slur. I wrote him a letter apologizing for that. There was no implication of that sort".Allison Dunfield, "Alcock apologizes to Tories", Globe and Mail, 5 May 2005, Front Page, and Gloria Galloway, "Honourable members hurl racial slurs, gibes and a lawsuit", Globe and Mail, 6 May 2005, A4. The controversy soon disappeared.

2006 election

Alcock was unexpectedly defeated in the 2006 federal election, losing to Conservative Rod Bruinooge by just over 100 votes in Winnipeg South. He took personal responsibility for the loss, and acknowledged that campaigning for other Liberal candidates damaged his own prospects for re-election. ["Alcock unseated by Conservative in Winnipeg South", CBC News], 3:10 Report, 24 January 2006. One of Alcock's final acts in office was to approve a payment of up to $40,000 to assist Jean Pelletier with legal fees in a court challenge against the Gomery Commission. Representatives of other parties criticized this payment, though Pelletier's lawyer argued that it followed a long-standing government policy for high-ranking functionaries in judicial proceedings.Tu Thanh Ha, "Treasury Board to review legal-fees offer to Pelletier", Globe and Mail, 26 April 2006, A10.

In March 2006, Alcock announced that he would support Belinda Stronach if she entered the campaign to succeed Paul Martin as Liberal leader."Stronach gets veteran's support for an undeclared leadership bid", National Post, 4 March 2006, A6. Stronach announced in early April that she would not be a candidate.

Trivia

In September 2005, Alcock donated an original painting entitled, "The view from my seat in the House of Commons, May 19, 6:10 p.m.", to a charity auction in Winnipeg. The work, a parody of Edvard Munch's The Scream, depicted Alcock's impression of the opposition Conservative caucus moments after the Liberals won a crucial confidence vote that could have forced early elections. Alcock acknowledged the painting was mostly traced. It sold for $2,200.Jane Taber, "Alcock rises to the artistic challenge", Globe and Mail, 1 October 2005, A4.

Alcock suffered weight-related health problems during his political career, once weighing in at 430 pounds. Facing the prospect of severe diabetes, he was ordered to lose almost half of his body weight. He was down to 310 pounds at the time of the 2006 election and has set a target weight of 240 pounds for the upcoming months.[John Ivison, "Losing the election was 'my own damn fault'"], National Post, 26 January 2006, online edition.

Table of offices held

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External links

Electoral record

2006 federal election: Winnipeg South
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
Conservative	Rod Bruinooge	17,328	41.42	\|- \|bgcolor="lightcoral"\|	Liberal	(x)Reg Alcock	17,217	41.15	\|- \|bgcolor="sandybrown"\|	New Democratic Party	Robert Page	5,743	13.73	\|- \|bgcolor="yellowgreen"\|	Green	Wesley Owen Whiteside	1,289	3.08	\|- \|bgcolor="#CC6699"\|	Christian Heritage	Heidi Loewen-Steffano	259	0.62
Total valid votes	41,836	100.00
Total rejected ballots	111
Turnout	41,947	70.39
Electors on lists	59,594

2004 federal election: Winnipeg South (redistributed)
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
Liberal	(x)Reg Alcock	19,270	51.31	,885.73 \|- \|bgcolor="cornflowerblue"\|	Conservative	Rod Bruinooge	12,770	34.00	,207.73 \|- \|bgcolor="sandybrown"\|	New Democratic Party	Catherine Green	4,217	11.23	,065.26 \|- \|bgcolor="yellowgreen"\|	Green	Ron Cameron	1,003	2.67	2.79 \|- \|bgcolor="#CC6699"\|	Christian Heritage	Jane MacDiarmid	296	0.79	,202.05
Total valid votes	37,556	100.00
Total rejected ballots	110
Turnout	37,666	63.23
Electors on lists	59,572

2000 federal election: Winnipeg South
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
Liberal	(x)Reg Alcock	21,433	50.94	,348.98 \|- \|bgcolor="cadetblue"\|	Canadian Alliance	Bill Hancock	12,638	30.04	,684.49 \|- \|bgcolor="sandybrown"\|	New Democratic Party	Duane Nicol	4,224	10.04	,006.24 \|- \|bgcolor="#9999FF"\|	Progressive Conservative	Geoffrey Lambert	3,599	8.55	,149.75 \|- \|bgcolor="gainsboro"\|	Ind. (Libertarian)	Didz Zuzens	183	0.43	5.12
Total valid votes	42,077	100.00
Total rejected ballots	145
Turnout	42,222	66.43
Electors on lists	63,562

All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada and Elections Manitoba. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.

Footnotes

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